The invention is directed to a component, particularly to a miniaturized, passive component.
For identifying electrical, electronic and, in particular, passive components, these are usually provided with a label. This can provide information about the manufacturer, the type or the specifications of the component and, potentially, the serial number or article designation. Larger components that comprise adequately large surfaces for the acceptance of a label can, for example, be printed with silkscreening in a simple way. Given smaller components having dimensions of, for example, below 1 mm, enough printable surface for producing a label is not available. Alternatively, these components can be labeled with a laser beam that still enables even the minutest font sizes to be produced.
Only labels that are difficult to read or no labels at all can be generated with laser labeling on miniaturized components that comprise a metallic layer on the surfaces available for a label since adequate contrast cannot be achieved there by erosion of material.